Speaking of Cuba

The next time the Dixie Chicks or other millionaire celebrities whine about the horrible oppression they've been subjected to in George Bush's America, they might stop and ask Martha Beatriz Roque what it really feels like to be persecuted:

The former political prisoner, who has opposed Fidel Castro for 17 years, says she can no longer endure the threats and insults by government supporters, who yell at her when she walks down the street and slip menacing notes under her door. Last weekend, they banged a pistol against her window in the middle of the night.

"This life has become just about impossible," Roque, one of Cuba's most high-profile dissidents, told The Associated Press in her small Havana apartment Tuesday. "I would rather be behind bars than dealing with this constant harassment."

Roque, an economist, was the lone woman among 75 people imprisoned in the spring of 2003 under a government crackdown on dissent. Given a 20-year sentence, she was released on parole for health reasons in July 2004.